


heartbeat;heartbreak

by piepanda



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series, Persona | Revelations Persona(implied)
Genre: Ace Naoto Shirogane, Angst, Asexual Character, Beta reader? Never met them, Child Neglect, F/F, Female Persona 3 Protagonist and Male Persona 3 Protagonist are Twins, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, My First Fanfic, Nonbinary Shirogane Naoto, POV Multiple, Past Character Death, Past Relationship(s), Past Sexual Abuse, Philemon - Freeform, Souyo machine go brr brr, THE ACTUAL MASTER OF THE VELVET ROOM, but mostly yosuke pov, dont need to play p1 nd p2 to get the fic, for those who havent played p1/p2, ill explain philemon nd that stuff, naoto is their asexual partner :), so mad they retconned him, the consequences of social links, you know the buttefly dude
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:54:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28696548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piepanda/pseuds/piepanda
Summary: A single change. Nanako never gets kidnapped, instead a certain wildcard falls victim to his past and gets kidnapped. A team learns about their leader's past and what they never knew.
Relationships: Amagi Yukiko/Satonaka Chie, Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke/Persona 4 Protagonist, Hanamura Yosuke/Seta Souji, Investigation Team & Narukami Yu, Kujikawa Rise/Shirogane Naoto/Tatsumi Kanji, PolySEES(referenced)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 40





	1. tell me why you did it

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic!! Ive been reading various fanfics for a while now and i really like the p4 protag shadow and p5 protag has a palace fics, but there arent enough so i decided to write one based on headcanons and a bit of projection
> 
> \- your asexual author😘

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> basically just like pretext nd stuff, setup to the main shit syarting later

Yosuke had had a long day. His alarm didn't go off and Teddie, being the little shit he is, tackled him. He made it to school 5 minutes before the bell and had to sit through an agonizing day of pop quizzes and Kashiwagi hitting on his partner, so nothing new really, right? Wrong. Anyone who knew Yu as well as he did would notice the way he squirms and slightly flinches at Kashiwagi's advances, or girls asking him out, he even took a dislike to Rise's advances at first until they had talked it out and she layed off of him a bit. But as of recently he's just been taking all this a bit... worse.

On the way home from school he hung out with Yu a little bit and crashed his bike... why did he crash said bike? Yu was *very* good looking, you see I am straight as a board  _ butholyshityuwashotlikethegaypanic _ \- no wait shit I'm straight. Ok so maybe I had a bit of a crush on Yu,  _ but who wouldn’t, he like Mr. Perfect  _ and it's not as if he would like me back though, I mean he's basically Mr. Perfect, and I'm Junes Boy... oh well a guy can dream.

Anyway my completely heterosexual panic was over and I make it home, after feeling a bit of calmness and serenity, I get a call from Naoto, who is honestly my best friend in the IT other than Yu and Chie. " Hi Yosuke-Senpai" "Sup Naoto" " Have you noticed anything off with senpai lately... I was investigating a case, and showed him some of the paperwork, but when my hand brushed his, he left very... promptly" "Oh... I mean he's always been a bit uncomfortable with touching like that from most people" I mean one of the few times he told me about his problems was about some advance Kashiwagi made on him after school" But yeah I guess he has been more sensitive about it lately" I say with a bit of worry slipping in my tone." "Well to be honest with you Yosuke- Senpai, I've been wondering if Senpai has been through some sort of physically abusive or um... sexually abusive situation in the past, do you think you can discuss this with him?" Naoto as always says with their clearest voice but a bit of worry and discomfort over the topic slips in." Yes of course, and also I doubt it's something like that Naoto, I mean he would have told us, right?

And so the next day begins, after the call with Naoto, I texted Yu asking if he could hang out today, and he said yes. So after school I say hi to Chie and she says hi back but leaves promptly for a date with Yukiko, god they're so gay. Anyway back on track, I met with Partner at the floodplain.

"Hey Yosuke" he says, a literal smile in his voice, god I just love his voice so much it's better than some of my favor- _ youareheterosexual _ ! Oh no I'm staring, "H-Hey Partner, how you doing, I'm doing pretty good myself" oh dear god I sound like a fucking imbecile, a baby deer stumbling around personafied, christ. "I'm doing pretty ok, sorry we haven't hung out much lately, I've been busy with clubs and part time work" Yu says apologetically. "It's fine man, but um..." Rip the bandaid off Yosuke, it's for his wellbeing, " So Naoto called me up last night and they, were kind of concerned for wellbeing in regards to how you react to being touched and stuff, and we wanted to know if you were dealing with any sort of physical or um... sexual abuse in the past?" After saying that I look at Yu's face and... oh no. He's doing that thing where he shuts off his expression and it looks like soul left the room. I really hope I misread him this time, my best fucking friend and I couldn't even figu-"Yosuke, I'm fine. I didn't go through anything like that remotely, I just have a persona weak to physical equipped right now" Yu cut off my thoughts with that and let out a chuckle. God I know he's lying but I can't force him to say anything to me, he so clearly uncomfortable with letting anyone know his trauma, his pain, and god I just want to take it away and- "I love you"

....wait. nonononoiletitslipheprobablyhatesmeandwisheshenevermetme-...." I love you too, I thought you were straight so I didn't say anything" is what Yu says in reaction and like there's no way he actually likes me he has to be fucking with me, and then I take a look at his face and... Yu is flustered. Yu. Narukami. Mr. Perfect. Is flustered. He's real cute like this too. After that I look him in the eyes and simply stare, normally the part where we lean in and kiss, but looks slightly uncomfortable with the hand I unknowingly slipped in his. "I guess we're dating now huh" "I guess we are", and then we separate and I go home with a big dorky grin to match Yu's.

And then I remember Yu dodged my inquiries on his home life, I figure I can let Naoto know since they'll figure out the change in Yu and I's relationship status anyway so might as well tell them now, I let Yu know, he's fine with it, and then I call Naoto.

" Hello?" "Hey Naoto, hey wait a minute" " Oh hi Yosuke-Senpai, what did Senpai say about my deductions" Naoto calmly states. "Ok I'll get to that in a moment but what if I called you Naoot"-" Senpai I kindly recommend you *never* say that again if you value living" Naoto says in the iciest tone I have ever fucking heard christ they just chopped my metaphorical balls off. "Moving on, he totally dodged the question and made up some bullshit about having equipped a persona weak to physical, and I meant to ask more and push but I accidently confessed my feelings for him and.. um... we kinda got together" I state as my face burns red. "Congrats on your relationship Yosuke-Senpai but we still need to figure this out, we can't send Senpai home to an abusive situation, we will continue this investigation tomorrow, I'll talk to you then" they say and then we promptly say goodbye to each other.

Dammit Partner, just let us help you...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave feedback in the comments, and if there are any typos/formatting issues please let me know
> 
> My twitter: @Bisaster3


	2. every dream falling apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More people begin to notice something is wrong with Yu, and something happens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was really fun writing this chapter, and TW for discussions of abuse

Yu Narukami was a mystery to Inaba. I mean who arrives at your town, solves everyone's problems, and manages to be the exact person to fit everyone’s problems? “He’s just too damn perfect”, on the surface at least. Anyone who knows Yu on the level he knows the Investigation Team will tell you he’s great but something is off with his behavior. When someone touches him for example, even the slightest brush of hands will make him flinch, if you aren’t paying attention you’ll miss it, but it does happen. The question is why? Why would the strongest, most stoic person they know, who could stare a giant mecha shadow down flinch at basic contact?

Everyone on the Investigation Team worried about Yu in their own subtle ways due to this. It was November now and everyone was coming to the realization Yu was, in fact heading home in a few months. This plus the fact they still had no clue who the killer was and why he was kidnapping people. This unfortunately pushed their concern for their leader to the back burner, if they couldn’t focus on mental health they could at least focus on his physical health in the T.V World. And focus on it they did, taking lethal hit after lethal hit in his place, but as they took those hits no one noticed, or did notice and willfully ignore, the shaking in his hands and empty gaze in his eyes as he thanked them for taking said hit.

November 4th was a pretty normal day for the Investigation Team, everyone went to school, Teddie working his shifts at Junes, Yosuke bothering Yu a bit more than normal with Naoto giving them a smirk was new, but overall it was pretty ok...until Yu got a call that he walked away to go answer. Everyone moved on as usual talking about normal dumb shit, Kanji and his ongoing search for the penguin, Naoto and Yosuke discussing something they didn’t want the team to hear, Rise stealing animal crackers, and Chie being a useless lesbian with Yukiko. All in all pretty calm but when Yu came in he had this look on his face. No one could quite describe it, it was normal for their leader to be stoic yes, but there was always emotion in those light grey eyes of his, they were never this  _ cold and empty. _ Yosuke being his partner (partner in what? The world may never know) walked up to him and asked him what was wrong. If they weren’t sure that something was wrong,  _ they sure as hell were now _ . Yosuke slung an arm around Yu, because Yu never flinched around Yosuke when it came to contact, but unlike usual he flinched  _ hard _ and his breathing became ragged and eyes panicked. Yu briefly exchanged some sort of greeting to leave  _ and bolted the fuck out _ .

After that Naoto raised their voice and simply said “Something is seriously wrong for senpai to react like that, Yosuke-Senpai and I came to a deduction a few days ago that Senpai’s home life had some sort of abuse going on that we need to address.” They said it so calmly the IT thinks they misheard Naoto, but she just gives them a sad look while Yosuke holds a pained scowl.

After a few brief moments of silence, Chie spoke up and simply stated the obvious “Why wouldn’t he tell us if that’s the case, I mean we know him pretty well, Yu-kun wouldn’t just forget to tell us something like that!” She says it more like she’s trying to convince herself, rather than Naoto.

“Chie-Senpai please understand that he shows all the signs, and we all know Senpai doesn’t have the best self-preservation skills” They end with a grimace as everyone remembers Yu healing them, but not himself, then leaving the T.V. World with injuries.

“Chie as much as I don’t want any of this to be true, we need to think of it logically. I’m just as worried about Partner and want it to be completely fine and dandy, BUT IT’S NOT, and that tears at me! It is so blatantly obvious Yu has been through some sort of abuse like that… god why is it always the best people who suffer the most.” Yosuke ended off solemnly.

“Guys it’s getting late and we need to watch the Midnight Channel tonight, why don’t we discuss this more on a group chat without Senpai, I’m worried too, but right now we need to go home and watch the Midnight Channel…” Rise trailed off blankly, trying to get everyone to calm down about the matter, it’s not that she’s not worried, in fact it’s quite the opposite, something was off about Yu’s presence in the TV World.

With that everyone silently left the Junes food court and went home.

  
  
  


**Yu Protection Squad!!!**

  
  


**> Yosuke: guys we cant just ignore this shit cuz of the case ya kno**

**> Naoto: YOSUKE SENPAI IS RIGHT, WHILE WE MAY BE FOCUSED ON THE MIDNIGHT CHANNEL RN WE NEED TO KEEP AN EYE ON SENPAI**

**> Rise: OMG ON IT!!! Im always ready to hang out with senpai (ﾉ≧∀≦)ﾉ**

**> Yukiko: Rise-chan are you sure that’s the best idea**

**> Naoto: …**

**> Chie: Shouldn’t we keep Rise off the job if Yu’s uncomfortable with physical contact?**

**> Kanji: ok, but you didn’t account for one thing sempai**

**> Chie: What?**

**> Rise: Σ(゜ロ゜;)**

**> Rise: (っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ**

**> Rise: i hate that youre right (TT_TT)**

**> Teddie: Hi ebearyone B)**

**> Yukiko: PDHjfkdshkjg eBEARYone**

**> Chie: Babe no**

**> Yosuke: teddie no**

**> Teddie: Teddie yes >:)**

**> Teddie: Anyway time to watch the midnight channel ebearyone**

**> Naoto:....**

**> Kanji: damn bear**

_ “Why hellooooo everyone” says the shadow with a spin “ ITS ME, everyone’s beloved, sweet and adorable wildcard! What’s that I’m also a stoic, strong, unshakable leader? Oh wait, none of you know ME do you?” the shadow starts giggling and puts on a theater mask that has the fool arcane written on it (under the mask you can see signs of dried tear tracks and bruises), his outfit consists of dress pants and a dress shirt, he has a belt with masks, each of which have an arcana written on them.”Hehe, see ya all at the show” the shadow says with a wink and a smirk, and then the midnight channel shuts off. _

**Yu Protection Squad!!!**

**> Chie: That was**

**> Yosuke: that was partnr wasnt it**

**> Yosuke: i just called him**

**> Yosuke: no one picked nononono please not him**

**> Yosuke: did he pick up for any1?**

**> Naoto: JUST CALLED DOJIMA-SAN, HE SAID HE CAN’T FIND SENPAI IN THE HOUSE**

**> Yukiko: His phone is going to voicemail, it says he can’t be reached**

**> Kanji: DAMMIT**

**> Yosuke:shitshitshit were coming partnr just hold on…**

**> Rise: dammit i knew something was off in the tv world**

**> Kanji: ?**

**> Rise: his solid presence was starting to fade and feel more like when someone was kidnapped**

**> Teddie: Yea his presence was very faint, where it’s normally solid**

**> Rise: his presence went from feeling like a sturdy metal pipe, to a thin string**

**> Chie: We need to go in tomorrow**

**> Yosuke: DAMMIT, were coming partnr i promise...**

  
  


“I’m so sorry partner…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND YU IS GONE, INTO THE VOID HE GOES, i hope you guys like the chatfic elements, they were fun to write but god they were a pain to format lol, I know I posted chapter one a few hours ago but I really wanted to get chapter 2 out tonight:)


	3. tell me why you did it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few ongoing discussions about Yu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first years are a happy poly couple that consists of their pan idol gf, bi punk bf, and ace nb detective bae ｡ﾟ(ﾟ∩´﹏`∩ﾟ)ﾟ｡

“Hey Naoto!” Rise exclaimed at me, even in a situation as depressing as this she could still lift the room, “Hi Rise” I state calmly. She gives me a kiss on the cheek and I blush, then I hear some footsteps running up, and a bear hug from behind.”Hey Kanji.” Rise and I say in unison, we’ve been doing stupid stuff since last night to keep our minds off of Yu-Senpai’s disappearance. “Hey guys, you’ all ready to save Senapi, cause I sure as hell am!” Kanji exclaims a bit too loudly for a school building so Rise tells him to shush.

We banter for a while, making a pitiful attempt to ignore the obvious tension and feeling of knowing Senpai, our precious leader is missing and here we are, at school, simply talking. God it makes me feel so just… useless. “Don’t blame yourself Naoto” Kanji breaks my train of thought with. I give him a look and Rise interjects with “ Naoto this is no one’s fault but the killer’s, and even if it was someone’s it would be a collective failing for our... _attempts_ .. At ignoring the obvious.” Everyone grimaced at remembering Senpai’s not-so-subtle reactions to physical touch, which Naoto themself doubts was _due to a persona weak to physical_. “Remember when we all went to karaoke together” Rise started chuckling. “How could we forget Rise…” Kanji grimaced, ugh even I ended up with a grimace thinking about that night. After saving me from my shadow, we all went out for karaoke and everyone had to sing 2 songs. The only ones out of our entire group who could sing were Rise, Yosuke-Senpai, and Yu-Senpai. Rise sang some of her singles, Yosuke-Senpai sang some random songs he plays in battle, and Senpai sang…

_Senpai sang Britney Spears songs…_ Naoto suppressed a shiver at the memory. Their stoic **_(it was a mask)_ ** , strong **_(he was lying)_ ** , and brave **_(it was a front)_ ** , singing Toxic and Baby One more time. “God what a day, I should’ve done a duet with Senpai” Rise whined, “Ok, but Senpai _did not_ give off the vibe of someone who can belt out a Britney Spears song, let alone two!” Kanji argued. Suddenly a thought popped into my head, “Ok, but what if he picked those songs on purpose, I mean think about the lyrics, Toxic is quite literally about being in an extremely unhealthy relationship that you just can’t bring yourself to leave, and Baby One More Time is about the pain loneliness can cause and extremely concerning amounts of codependency in a relationship, what does it say about Senpai to pick those of all songs?” I theorize and Kanji and Rise give me dumbfounded looks.

“Naoto are you sure you’re not-” Kanji starts but Rise cuts him off “No this is how we overlooked Senpai’s fairly obvious issues beforehand, we need to pay attention to all of the hints he dropped, all of the subtle things…” Rise stated sorrowly. "But if that's why he picked the songs, what does that say about Senpai's past relationships?" Kanji hesitantly asks “Why don’t us three begin working on some preliminary theories for later?” I ask the two of them and the three of us begin on some theories on the dungeon, and the meanings.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

“Chie are you sure this is a good idea?” I ask my girlfriend, who has her moments, but in general isn’t the brightest, “Yukiko we need to cheer Yosuke up, he’s waaay too depressed like he’ll never see Yu again, he’s acting like I did when you went missing, a maniac.” Chie says tensley, as much as she won’t show it, Yu, Yosuke, and Chie are their own little group, as Kanji eloquently put it “the Dumbass Squad **™** ” she’s obviously taking this hard so I simply grab her hand and walk to class where we hope to see Yosuke , only to see…

Teddie. As much as we love the bear, he’s the IT’s, and basically Yosuke’s little brother, but god we really needed to check in on Yosuke today. “Hey Chie-chan, Yuki-chan!” “Hey Ted, where’s Yosuke?” Chie asks and Teddie in his nonexistent wisdom of the real world, “HE said he was really sad and decided to stay home today, I mean who wouldn’t be! Poor Sensei is all alone in the TV World with his shadow” Teddie tears up a bit at this. We all feel the effects of Yu-kun being stuck in the Tv World like most of our team was, our supposed untouchable leader, pulled off of his pedestal, and brought to face whatever he's been denying or bottling up, the thought hurts to think about...

_Why did we put him on the pedestal in the first place? He's just a person, not some sort of deity... we ignored his issues and obvious triggers for what? To **clear our consience** of worrying about him? To live in **blissful ignorance**? Or to keep him on the **pedestal** as a **rock to lean on**?_

"M-moving on from that, other than being sad was anything wrong with Yosuke's behavior Teddie?" Chie asked, still a bit shaken from the moments of silence spent grimacing Yu-kun's current whereabouts." He just said he needed to talk to Naoto for a while and then he'd be ready to save Sensei!" Teddie exclaimed with a bit of cheerfulness that has been missing since last night. "Oh ok, thank you Ted, I need to go ask Yukiko some stuff so we'll be right back" Chie says with a strained smile, even with a bit of cheer from Teddie, there's still an uncomfortable, tense air in the room.

"What's wrong sweetie?" I ask Chie because she's so tense and it hurts to watch, we're all worried about Yu-kun, but he wouldn't want us to exhaust ourselves over it." What isn't wrong Yukiko! Our leader, closest friend to everyone, is missing, and Yosuke, the person who is taking this the hardest isn't even here today! And then on top of all that, even if we go in today, the chances of getting Yu out today, are so low they might as well be in the ninth circle of hell!" Chie finishes off her mini rant and she looks like she's about to cry. "We'll get him out, we aren't useless without him, and when we get him out we'll take a few days ,yes, but that's normal, and when we do save him Yosuke will be ok again." I decided to say it calmly as if I was talking to a child, Chie is far from a child but she needed soft words right now. "I love you Yukiko" Chie sniffles out and gives me a tight hug, " I love you too Chie" I smile softly at her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I understand you miss Yu-kun, but you should really go to school Yosuke, it might help." My mom tells me, I understand she wants me to go to class, but I just can't deal with it all right now. My partner. My boyfriend who I only started going out with like 3 days ago. Got kidnapped. Talk about rotten luck.

Anyway since then last night my mom noticed how upset I was, and as always my dad simply went to work. I sent Ted to school in my place to deal with Chie and Yukiko's concern over my mental state, and to avoid rumors about Yu being gone. Anyway school would have ended by now, I can't mope around all day.

"We're coming partner, we're going to save you"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok i am lowkey having a lot of fun writing and i am putting some headcanons in, some are that yu is bilingual, bisexual, and the IT spends a night to celebrate each successful rescue and for Naoto it was karaoke and Yu belted some Britney Spears because he has taste😌, also some yukichie fluff because I didnt include enough of them last chapter, some teddie and kanji too because they were practically nonexsistent, yosuke is at home listening to sweater weather, which is also what he sang at karaoke, yes ik the song didnt exist yet, but alas, i care not


	4. after the promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The IT gathers information and enter's Yu's dungeon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of updates!! I started another fic at the same time and wanted to get a bit ahead on it, and I also wanted to take my time to make this chapter as good as I can do. It's also a bit long but I think it fits. Thanks for reading!

“Senpai’s midnight channel was last night, and I’m guessing we all saw the same thing?” Naoto says with a bit of tension in her voice.

“What the hell was that? What was up with the mask?” Chie asks with clear confusion most of us share.

“Why did he have all those cards? They had french written on them, little drawings and roman numerals.” Yukiko asks, which begs the question of what those were.

“They were based off of tarot.” I say bluntly and get a bunch of looks, as if to say ‘Why do you know that?’, “Look, I had a bit of a tarot phase in middle school, but the ones I could catch were for, the magician, the wheel of fortune, and justice.”

“Ok, but for the people who had friends in middle school, what’s tarot?” Chie asks and it looks like no one quite knows what it is.

“I had friends in middle school! Anyway there are 22 major arcana and 56 minor arcana. Minor arcana are for day to day challenges, and major arcana are big lessons and traits in life. Personally, I think of it as a mirror on how you act. Every major card can go back to the fool, as they go through their journey, learning every lesson. For example the chariot represents confidence and arrogance, but when put in reversed represents self-doubt.” I give a brief explanation and see the gears turning in their heads.

“Ok, but what does that have to do with Senpai?” Rise asks the obvious and I tell her what I know.

“For those of us who have eyes, the cards we summon our personas with have tarot written on them, probably to represent personality traits, but Yu can use multiple personas, and I’m assuming they all have different arcanas.” I finish off the basic observation, and I’m surprised a bit that Rise never noticed.

“If arcana can serve as a mirror to our personalities, and Senpai uses multiple, what does that say about his mind? His shadow mentioned different ways people can see him, so does that mean he lies to others? Or hides himself? We’ve all seen Senpai has bad self-preservation tactics, and carries some sort of trauma related to physical touch, probably childhood abuse or sexual abuse.” Naoto finishes and leaves everyone sans Naoto themself, Rise, and I, shocked. It looks like no one else was aware of the signs.

“If you didn’t notice don’t blame yourselves. Partner is very good at keeping to himself...he also doesn’t like to tell others things. Has anyone been told anything about his life before Inaba? Parents? Friends? Relationships?” I try to show them, and while it hurts to admit we don’t know him as well as we think, if we sit on that fact forever we’re never going to find him in time.

"On another note, how did Senpai end up on the midnight channel, he wasn't on tv!" Kanji asks and that us a good question... how did Yu end up getting kidnapped if he wasn't on tv?

Teddie throws a newspaper on the table and it has some interviews from students from Yasogami. They kept most of the names out but it mentions the top student, which is Yu. 

"Of course he coulda' ended up there if he was in the newspaper, dammit!" Kanji lets his frustration out on the poor Junes seat, and everyone has a collective sigh realising how Yu ended up on the midnight channel.

“I say we begin looking for information to find Senpai, we can tell his dungeon has something to do with his past and acting.” Naoto says and as everyone begins to walk away Dojima comes to talk to us.

"Where's Yu?" He asks us, like we know anything! I mean we do, but he’s not supposed to know that...

"We have no clue Dojima-san-”

“Don’t bullshit me. I know Yu had something to do with the murders. We got this in the mail last night, and then the doorbell rang, Yu got the door. Then he was gone.” Dojima grimaces and we all remember the creepy notes Yu was getting.

“What did the note say, Dojima-san? Naoto asks and meets his grimace with a look demanding an answer. He puts the note on the table and we all look.

“stop or someone you love will be put in” 

“That doesn’t make sense. I highly doubt that’s the killer. We all know the people Yu cares about the most are Nanako-chan, Dojima-san, and his friends, so why would he say this to turn around and push Yu in?” Naoto begins theorizing but forgot Dojima was  _ right there. _

“Pushed into what? What do you guys know about the murders and kidnappings?” That snaps Naoto out of theorizing and they look done, like they’re dealing with a bunch of five year olds.

“We knew the case wasn’t over yet Dojima-san! I meant it when I said Kubo was a copycat, his method differed from the previous two murderers, which  _ are  _ linked to the kidnappings!” Naoto says with a vigor as if they’re pissed off at the entire police department for their handling of the case.

“Well we know that now, now where’s Yu dammit! I need to get him back, he fixed my family.  _ I owe him so much!  _ He’s like a son to me at this point!” Dojima exclaims with such passion I wish Yu was here to hear it, to know how much everyone loves and cares for him…

“We can save him, Dojima-san, but we need to know his feelings on the world, or how others see him. Do you know if Senpai had anything like that?” Naoto asks with a hopeful look in their eyes and Dojima ponders for a moment.

“I think he has a journal in his room, his cellphone is also there, feel free to go through them, as long as you find him. Here, I’ll give you a ride.” So we all go in Dojima’s car. As angry as he sounded at first, I can’t really fault him. Yu is important to all of us but he probably has a bond with Yu that’s equivalent to his bond with Nanako-chan. So we get in his car and sit in silence until we reach the Dojima household. Nanako-chan is at school so we go to Partner’s room and begin searching.

“ I found Sensei’s journal!” Teddie yells at the top of his fucking lungs as always, but instead of commenting on that ear-piercing scream I walk over to see it.

“Hand it over, I’ll read it off.” I grab the journal and begin to read some days off.

“April 11th, I just moved to my uncle’s place. He said he knew me when I was little, and I wish I remembered him. I could’ve called for help, but then again I needed to be there for Ren, Minato-Senpai, and Minako-Senpai (when they were around), without me they wouldn’t have had a place to hide. Well, it wasn’t all the time, when mom and dad would come home they’d have to stay away. Anyway I’m free for a year, but I need to keep an ear out for Ren, I don’t need those bastards to kill him… I should go to bed. School starts tomorrow, let’s hope they’re nice here” I finish off the first page and let that sink in for a moment.

“The hell… who’re Ren, Minato-senpai, and Minako-senpai? Senpai never mentioned anyone, and why was he so worried about Ren getting killed by some bastard? And Yasogami being nice?” Kanji asks the obvious and no one quite answers so I decide to continue from another date.

“ It’s July 1st. Happy birthday Minako-senpai, Minato-senpai. Ren and I have missed you. You guys would be 19. It’s funny how we agreed we’d live together after you’d graduate, but then you guys left. Anyways I’m a wildcard now and I’m pretty sure you guys are the guests that made Margaret’s siblings leave the Velvet Room. She called you a pair of twins that prevented the fall. I wonder if I’ll die at the end of my journey? Sometimes I wish I would but Ren can’t lose all of us. Also why is Igor’s nose so long? Anyway I’ve made a lot of friends since I moved to Inaba. There’s Chie, with an insane appetite for any type of meat, Yukiko is Chie’s girlfriend and she can’t cook for the life of her but she’s my dear friend, Kanji is the biggest softie I’ve ever met despite his looks and I only wish the best for him, Rise is our most recent save, and she’s our newest friend. She’s nice but when she touches me I get flashbacks to  _ her  _ . But there’s also my closest friend, Yosuke. He’s my partner in practically everything and I’m so glad he’s here. My parents haven’t called me since I came here but I don’t really care. It’s nice not having to deal with them. I’ve been checking in with Ren as much as I can, but we all know his bastard parents don’t let him make calls often. Is being a wildcard supposed to be this tiring? I feel like I need to give everyone therapy, or put on an act to up their links… I think Ren is going to be the next wildcard. I really don’t want to be right, but he saw the blue butterfly too, and I’ve checked with him, he’s the only other living person who’s seen it. That’s enough for now, but I love you two and miss you more than anything in the world… why did you have to leave, have a fun afterlife senpais…” I finish this open ended note, and everyone is floored. Yu never showed signs of someone who’d be suicidal, let alone grieving over the loss of people he was very close to…

"We love you too Yu-kun..."

“Senpai… what’s the Velvet Room, what’s a wildcard, who’s Margaret, who’s Igor, who are these people, who’s  _ her  _ , Senpai why didn’t you say anything to us…” Rise asks and begs but no one replies to that, instead Naoto requests something and gives us a theory.

“Yosuke-Senpai, please go to the early days when you guys just found the midnight channel, or more of Senpai’s first days in Inaba. There might be some explanations about this Velvet Room place, or his Senpais and Ren.” Naoto requests and I’m more than happy to oblige.

“April 12th. I woke up after having another weird dream about that Velvet Room place. Igor has a stupidly long nose and sounds kind of weird. He has an attendant named Margaret, she’s really pretty but she gives off mad mom vibes. They said it was between dream and reality, mind and matter, and only those with a contract could enter. I don’t remember signing a contract, but I told them my name when I entered so I guess that counts. I got some weird tarot reading and they said the room is fitted to the shape of my heart...so why is it a limo? And can I drink the drinks in real life? They called me their guest, gave me a key that somehow landed on my keychain, and I woke up. I went to school and they found a dead body. My teacher is an asshole but at least the students are nice. Nanako is very sweet and I hope to get closer with her. Uncle Dojima isn’t there for her often, she sings the Junes theme to cope… I’m going to go to bed and hopefully I won’t dream of that weird limo.”

“So if it’s a dream place, what does it have to do with Senpai being a ‘wildcard’ and his friends who passed away and Ren-kun?”

“Should we really keep reading? This feels really personal, the letter from earlier had tear stains on it…” I say because I feel like I’m intruding on so much personal info. That letter should have never been read out loud.

“We need to find Senpai’s dungeon and we can’t do that with so little information unfortunately.” Naoto finishes and we all just feel a few tinges of guilt. I continue to a different day.

“April 14th. Love it when the TV just takes a sexy bite of my hand and tries to eat me. I really wished that was just a fever dream but nope! My hand can go through TVs… I entered some weird TV world with my classmates Satonaka and Hanamura. I awoke to this persona power and it felt  _ so  _ nice. The weirdest mix of pain and euphoria. It was like feeling whole for the first time in my life. I killed some weird looking shadow things and we left after saying bye to the weird bear thing. The velvet room appeared again and said I’m like the number 0 (rude :p) and I have infinite potential as long as I make bonds. I think I will be able to use multiple if that’s what they’re saying. I’m also the fool or something, I was honestly too exhausted to fully absorb all of the information. I’m going to bed and hopefully feel better in the morning.”

“So he gets his personas there? And it looks like it’s there for wildcards, or fools? Also I’m pretty sure getting a persona is supposed to hurt, but he felt  _ euphoric?  _ Also the bonds aspect is very off putting. I say we check Senpai’s phone, after checking a more recent date. I’d say sometime right after the festival.” I give her a nod saying I’m looking and I find the day after the festival.

“November 1st.  _ What the actual fuck? Why was Margaret there?  _ How Margaret made it to the culture festival will haunt me til the day I die. Why did she tell Nanako, basically my little sister, I'm a manwhore? I like men way more than women! That made no sense! Margaret wouldn’t take a jab at  _ that  _ but I’m still surprised she was there nonetheless. Crossdressing again was pretty fun, and reminded me of the old days with everyone. Yosuke looked pretty cute and Kanji put a really good effort forth. Teddie running on stage surprised me, and I didn’t really watch the girls’ show and voted for Naoto. After that interesting day, I got a call from them. Only took 7 months but they called. And of course it was for their petty bullshit. Asked me about grades, said to keep my head down or there would be  _ consequences again  _ , and hung up. I didn’t even get to say anything… I called Ren afterwards and while he was able to pick up he said his mom was drunk and he had to go… I think I’m going to go to bed tonight…” I finish off the entry and my voice is strained a bit. I didn't think his friend Ren was in a good environment, but the situation is much worse than I thought...

"So Senpai and his parents don't get along, like we guessed, he was so blatantly confused why this Margaret lady was at the festival, and his friend has a bad home life..." Rise mumbles and Naoto speaks up.

"Let's go through his phone now" They open up Yu's phone and begin talking again" Most of his contacts are normal, at the bottom I can see the senpais he mentions in his journal, he has hearts next to their names and the chat hasn't been used in around 2 years. There's also a group chat called 'The Fools' that hasn't been used since July. It has his deceased senpais and his friend Ren in it." They finish off and I decide to take a look.

"Hey Naoto, can I check the group chat? We might find something noteworthy there." They hand me the phone and I begin reading things off.

"First of all, everyone has a nickname, Yu's is 'listens to vocaloid' and the other active person, I'm guessing Ren-kun is 'purest child on the planet', and then I don't know which is which but the two who haven't been active in two years are his senpais. Their names are 'depressedtwin' and 'totallyoktwin'. The chat seemed to be mostly active up until 2009 and then it was just Partner and Ren-kun. They mostly just talked about how they missed each other and his senpais started saying goodbyes in March to them. Then you can see Yu and Ren-kun grieving and asking for them back. It's not very nice to read... conversations before 2009 also have them referencing the day they met each other heavily. I think we have enough to find his TV dungeon." I finish off and we start to file out of the room when Teddie calls us all back in.

"Hey guys Sensei has one of those things Yosuke listens to music on!" Teddie yells that Yu had an mp3 player.

"We're not going through that. It's probably just vocaloid and pop based off of what we've seen referenced." Teddie pouts after I say that and we walk out and head to Junes.

After entering the TV world again Rise and Teddie begin searching.

"Found him!" Rise shouts and points us in the direction of Yu.

We reach it after sprinting and it's a giant theater. I think this may be the largest dungeon, it looks 18 to 20 floors, it has a victorian style to it with long red curtains, and the entrance is grand with large golden pillars.

"Holy shit..."

" _ It's massive! _ "

"This is Senpai's heart? It's so grand yet...lonely"

There's an air of sadness and loneliness surrounding the whole structure, at the edges we can barely make out the curtains are a bit torn and the gold loses its luster. The sky is dark as midnight and the moon is there, but there are no stars, like someone stole them all.

"Who's going to be the leader here, Yu is obviously inside so we need a substitute." Chie says and we all get reminded once again Yu is gone.

"I say a joint effort between Yosuke-senpai and Naoto!" Rise suggests that Naoto and I agree to work together. Then we enter the theater and each floor feels massive. The ceilings are high up and lined with gold trim while the middle is white marble. There are red curtains in place of doors and the floors are hardwood lined with gold as well.

_ "Tell me why you did it, everything falling apart. Tell me why you did it, after the promise-" _

"That's what plays in Senpai's heart! Why does his have words?" Kanji exclaims and we all relate honestly. Why did Yu's dungeon have to have a song with words? And what do these words say about Yu? 

"Senpai..." Rise murmurs

"What does this say about Yu-kun, who broke his heart?" Yukiko asks as she continues listening.

"Guys let's move through so we could ask Yu ourselves." I say and we start moving. I lead the team in battle while Naoto gives us strategies.

There have been no gimmicks like previous places, but we need to be careful, this is only floor one after all. We reach the spiral of stairs, tall and gold and before we go up, Inotice a small movie screen.

"Hey Naoto!"

"Yes Yosuke-senpai?"

"Maybe we should check the movie screen over there, it might tell us something about this place..."

"Ok, everyone let's go check it out!" Naoto yells out and we all walk over to watch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I don't think the wildcards all know each other brainrot will ever leave me alone hehe. They would make such good friends and be there for each other!! Thanks for the kudos, and thanks for reading!!


	5. still aching, still aching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashbacks play in Yu's theater. Things start piecing together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got it done on timeೕ(`･୰･´) Here's a 2k chapter, I'm aiming for 15-25 chapters on this slight crossover mess! If you're wondering where tf namatame is, don't worry, he didn't have to escape because they didn't figure it out without Yu so he didn't have to escape. That will be handled near the end:) Thanks for reading!

_ The screen begins playing a memory shaded in sepia. Yu is sitting on the roof, he looks around 10. He’s eating lunch by himself and a girl with brown hair and red eyes, a boy with blue hair and grey eyes, and a boy with black hair and grey eyes walk up. The boy with black hair looks around 7 years old, while the boy and girl look around 12. _

_ “Hellooooo!” _

_ “Hi Minako Senpai.” Yu chuckles a bit at her greeting, the girl seems to be one of the senpais he mentioned. _

_ “Oh what, no hello to or Minato-Senpai? What are we, dirt Yu-Senpai?” The little boy, Ren, I'm guessing sticks his tongue out at Yu and The blue haired boy, presumably Minato-senpai, messes with his hair. _

_ “Oh yes, the people I spend all my free time with are dirt. No, love you fuckers.” Yu of all people curses and hands them their lunches.  _

_ “Yu this is so good!” Minako yells with stars in her eyes. _

_ “Thanks, but it really was-” _

_ “Yu, shut up and take the praise. Best food I’ve had in awhile.” _

_ “Yu-senpai, it really is pretty good. Better than anything my parents can make…” _

_ “Thanks guys.” Yu says with a bright blush. Yu can see them making small talk until Minato pokes Ren and he yelps. _

_ “Ren. Your parents didn’t hit you again did they?” Minako asks with an icy tone, that makes me slightly glad I’ve never met her. She seems like a mom friend and Ren shrinks in on himself a bit. _

_ “...” _

_ “Ren please, we’ve all been through things like this. Don’t be scared to tell us.” Yu says in that kind tone of his, he gives Ren a sympathetic gaze and Ren finally speaks up. _

_ “T-They used the glass bottle this time… it hurt really bad so I put on a big shirt Yu-senpai gave me today.” Ren finishes and starts to close in on himself. _

_ “Why don’t we go to my place today? My parents aren’t home again.” Yu says and everyone visibly brightens a bit. Seems like Yu’s place is a bit of a safe haven when his parents aren’t home. _

_ “If they aren’t home where’d you get money for ingredients Yu?” Minato asks and it’s like an alarm went off in everyone’s head. _

_ “So you see...:” Yu looks like he’s aged a hundred years and visibly pales. _

_ “They were home recently weren’t they…” Minato says with a bit of a grimace and Yu finally gives in. _

_ “They were home about a week ago...they gave me about 100,000 yen for the next 9 months of food…” Yu grimaces and Minato and Minako look ready to kill someone, while Ren goes along not knowing how much you’d need for 9 months, but he can tell it’s not enough. _

_ “Do you need us to help you work part time to make some cash again?” _

_ “I’d rather not, some of the jobs were a bit too… hands on last time.” Everyone shares a bit of a grimace but Yu is very downcast at this, and the lunch bell goes off. _

_ “Shit! Minako, let’s get to class, Yu, Ren, you guys too. Let’s meet up after school!” Minato grabs Minako and run out the door while everyone says bye and run to class.  _

The flashback ends and we're all speechless. We all agreed to stay silent during it, but we’re honestly kinda shocked.

“That was…” Kanji begins but seemingly can’t get a full sentence out.

“Senpai…” Rise struggles to say. I frankly can’t blame her either, it hurts to know Yu grew up in that kind of environment.

“Poor Sensei…”

“Naoto, what did you gather from the flashback?” Yukiko asks Naoto who seems to have been taking notes the whole time. Naoto shuts her notebook and begins.

“I’ll start with the obvious. The girl with brown hair and boy with blue hair appear to be his aforementioned senpais who seem to be 3-4 years older, and Ren appears to be around 3 years younger than Senpai. They all seem to have bad home lives, Ren is dealing with physical and Senpai is dealing with severe neglect and physical and emotional abuse are also possibilities. I couldn’t figure out the senpais’ trauma but that might come up later. Also everyone present grimaced when Senpai mentioned jobs being handsy. I can also presume the senpais are dead based off his journal and texts.” Naoto finishes off and everyone sits in a bit of a silence.

“It sucks that happened to Partner. He’s like the last person who deserves that…”

“I never thought Senpai would be one to say fuckers at 10.” Kanji brings up and Chie and Yukiko begin laughing like crazy.

“How did he say it so casually? I paid him 20 bucks to say it and he was all blushy and shy?!” Rise says astonished by Yu saying fuckers at 10. I can’t blame her, hearing Yu curse is so funny yet so off putting.

“I guess he wasn’t like other boys.” Chie says with a smirk and Yukiko-

“Pshshhhehhe Chie!” Yukiko has another laughing fit and everyone begins to go up the stairs. The enemies are pretty much the biggest pain in the ass yet. For one, they’re higher levels than Naoto’s dungeon, but two, Yu isn’t here. He was the real powerhouse, he could end battles in one hit, he had all the buffs for everyone, and he was just the best at leading. There’s a reason I follow him, why I’m his second in command. Everyone holds no mercy for a single shadow in the theater, no one even stops to pick up the money and items dropped. We talk a bit, avoid shadows when we could, how did Yu manage to make whole floors of shadows ignore us? The world may never know. We finally reach the stairs and before going up we look around for another movie or hint at what’s going on here.

“Found it!” Teddie yells, thank god for the lack of a bear pun.

“Should we really be watching these?” Yukiko brings up and she has a point. These are Yu’s memories, his feelings, fond or not.

“Well I don’t think we could progress without watching them Yukiko-Senpai.” Rise says and we all just look at her waiting for an explanation.

“Geez! Don’t look at me like that! Anyway the stairs have a weird barrier thing around them that goes away when we watch the video. The same thing happened last floor.”

“Ok, thank you Rise, let’s just watch this and get it over with.” I say, and everyone gets hit by a feeling of incoming dread. No one really wants to snoop on Yu’s heart like this. The movie starts and everyone sits on the floor again. Teddie watches from near the door to keep an eye out for shadows.

_ The scene begins. Yu is there and he looks around 9. He’s walking onto the school roof once again and he’s staring off with a dazed expression, if you look closely you can see burn scars on his hands and bruises under his shirt. He begins walking towards the edge when he sees a boy with curly black hair, Ren from earlier. It becomes a bit obvious about what Yu was about to do and it’s scary. _

_ “Hey!” _

_ “H-Hi…” _

_ “Why’re you up here?” Yu asks Ren and Ren flinches. _

_ “Mom and dad don’t want me, everyone hates me, I don’t belong anywhere. I just want to go back to my real parents…” _

_ “So you’re trying to end it all? Would your real parents really want to see you up there with them. Right now they’re looking down on their beloved son, and believe that he’s strong enough to make it through all of this. Why don’t you get back to class now?” _

_ “Thank you Senpai, I’ll see you around!” Ren runs into the building and Yu gives a long sigh and goes home. _

_ The scene shows a few static images of two people screaming at him, hitting him, and the life leaving his eyes a bit, then it abruptly cuts to the next day. _

_ Yu is by the edge again, taking his shoes off, gaze somehow emptier than the day prior when he notices a boy with blue hair, one of his senpais, Minato. _

_ “Hi Senpai!” _

_ “Oh hello there.” Minato gives a solemn smile and looks Yu in the eyes. _

_ “Senpai, please don’t jump.” _

_ “Why shouldn’t I? It’s not like anyone needs me, Minako will be fine, I’m sick of getting passed from foster home to foster home. Everyone hits, I can’t even protect Minako dammit! I’m useless.” _

_ “Well you can’t protect her if you’re dead. Do you really want your sister to go through all that without her brother? She’d be mourning not only your parents, but her brother as well. Just being there to go through hell with her is probably enough in her eyes.” Yu reasons with him and Minato looks at him a bit shocked and softens. _

_ “Thanks kid, I’ll see you around. I think I’ll talk to Minako a bit.” Minato gives Yu a soft smile and Yu walks home alone again. It doesn’t cut out with a bunch of flashbacks and static again. Yu stops at a grocery store and buys ingredients to make dinner. He gets home and makes some curry. He burns his hands a few times but puts up with it, eats dinner, does homework, and goes to bed. He walks to the roof again and from his point of view no one’s there so he goes to the edge again. He takes off his shoes and jumps and we all scream a bit. We see a hand catch him. _

_ “Hi there.” _

_ “H-hello Senpai.” _

_ “You saved my brother yesterday, you know?” _

_ “The blue haired boy?” _

_ “Yep, that was my idiot of a younger twin.” Minako says with a soft smile while pulling Yu up. When he’s up all the way you can see Minato and Ren. We all let a bit of tension out of our frames when we see him on solid ground. _

_ “So kid, care to explain why you wanted to jump?” _ _  
_ _ “You saved me Senpai, so please rely on us as well!” _

_ “I-I can’t take it anymore. They’re never home but when they are it’s constant. They hit me, they tell me I’m useless, why couldn’t I be enough for them? My grades are never high enough, I never look dignified, dinner doesn’t taste like that restaurant they went to last week, there’s like one spec of dust after I spend hours cleaning, I just can’t anymore! Let it end already dammit!” Yu starts to sob and Minako gives him a hug. _

_ “Anything else you want to let out?” Minako says softly and he just sobs into her dress. _

_ “Why don’t we all meet up every lunch break. A bunch of suicidal kids having therapy.” Minato suggests and they begin to introduce themselves. _

_ “I’m Ren Amamiya, please just call me Ren.” Ren says his little introduction and does a little spin. _

_ “I’m Minato Arisato, I’m the younger twin to Minako, what’s your name?” Yu lets go of Minako and introduces himself after a bit of sniffling. _

_ “My name’s Yu Narukami, please call me Yu.”  _

_ “Alright we’ll see you at lunch you guys!” Minako declares and everyone says goodbyes and heads home. The screen turns back and we’re all sitting there more than a bit shocked. _

“What the actual fuck?!” Kanji shouts seemingly horrified by what we just witnessed and I can’t blame him.

“Senpai...No no way. Senpai is happy with life right now, he was- there’s no way-” Rise is a stuttering mess and she’s crying and I don’t blame her. Yukiko and I stay silent while everyone yells a bit in utter confusion. It hurts to know Yu went through all of this and didn’t tell a single one of us.

“Naoto what’s your analysis?” I say and my voice cracks a bit, it physically hurts to ask after watching that. 

“Ah yes, um as we guessed during the last video, Yu is dealing with emotional, physical, and psychological abuse, along with neglect. He’s put under a lot of pressure. His senpais and Ren are all in foster care but Ren has a permanent home, while his senpais are moved around the city they live in. As they said they are all suicidal and I’m guessing this is how their friend group came to be.” Naoto finishes and they really struggled to get that out. They dropped their notebook when they saw Yu jump. We all feel so drained after that but we get up and keep moving through floor 3. The song playing is ever present. We can’t hear Yu’s voice like in other dungeons, but the song does all the talking for him. This whole place feels so lonely, isolation is all you can really feel. The whole place looks like someone taking care of it as well as possible, but they’re alone and falling apart. If so, what does that say about Yu as of late? Was he doing better or falling apart? I keep asking myself these questions while we take down shadows. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to slice my fingers open with a razor blade by accident so this chapter took awhile, sorry!!TT_TT, this fic is really fun to write but I want to take more time with it! Thank you for reading and commenting and have a good one!


	6. oh baby i need your love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The layers peel back on floors 3 & 4.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why hello there >:), this wasn't cancelled or anything, i'm just busy with school lately and have a few wips im working on. updates might be less frequent but im fully intent on finishing this, thanks for reading!!
> 
> tw// sexual assault discussion, panic attacks and referenced homophobia

The whole Investigation Team was unsettled by Yu's dungeon. From the song, lamenting the pain caused by heartbreak of all forms of love, to the flashbacks at the end of each floor. After the first flashback, everything was still a bit lighthearted, a few jokes here and there, but that atmosphere was beginning to dwindle after the abuse suspicions being confirmed partially. After the second floor's flashback everyone was silent. Seeing a nine year old version of their leader, their pillar, their treasured best friend they'd  _ die  _ for and regret nothing, jump off a four story building was an extremely painful experience they wouldn't wish on their worst enemy. Except maybe the killer who pushed Yu in.

"Hey Naoto?" Rise calls out from her speaker out of the blue and everyone decides to listen in.

"Yes Rise?"

"How come we haven't heard Senpai's shadow yet? I've been trying to figure that out for the past 45 minutes or so, but nothing comes up. It's like a signal you can't trace." Rise asks and you can hear the frustration in her voice. For someone so peppy to sound so done was offputting.

"Maybe by putting that weird flashback system at the end of each floor traded his ability to voice thoughts or feelings? I'm not all that sure myself Rise. I've been jotting down some ideas but nothing really sticks." Naoto says and they frown a bit while hitting the next shadow with a charged up megidola. Unlike previous dungeons, without their leader present everything consumed more SP and while HP was easy to replenish, SP was more costly.

"Chie, rebellion!" Yosuke yells and then they take down the shadows with a lucky critical. They've practically finished off the floor and everyone is dreading making it to the end. While they all want to save their leader, they don't want to watch his painful memories.

"That's the end of the floor ebearyone!" Teddie yells as they all reach the stairs. They all sit down at the next screen and wait for a flashback to begin. After a few minutes the screen sputters with static and loud glitchy bass noises and it begins.

_ "Women. Men. My non binary pals. They're all hot as hell." Minako says. The scene is made up of the quartet laying on the floor of Yu's apartment and they're staring at the ceiling. _

_ "Imagine being attracted to people. I'd rather eat cake." Minato says and he pokes Minako's cheek and she messes up his hair. _

_ "No no, she has a point Minato-senpai. Everyone is equally hot, and I am very confused." Yu says with amusement in his tone. _

"Guess that answers the question if Senpai likes guys or not." Kanji comments and Yosuke blushes a bit.

_ "There's a cute boy in my class, but I'm 7, what would I know?" Ren shrugs a bit and everyone kind of agrees while disagreeing. _

_ "Minako-senpai there was this guy in my science class, and he's dating the prettiest girl and it's like, the ultimate bisexual panic. I prefer guys but damn. That girl has some nice legs." Yu says, and for once the Investigation Team is so dumbfounded, the flashback pauses. _

"He-  _ What?"  _ Yosuke stammers out, and he's absolutely baffled. The rest of the Investigation team isn't doing much better.

"Sensei was beary blunt as a kid!" Teddie shouts out and no one even comments on the bear pun this time.

"Did Yu-kun just admit to-"

"Holy shit, he was checking her out!"

"But Senpai's such a gentleman, I never thought he'd be tbe type to do that." Rise says when Yukiko and Chie stop laughing in their confusion.

"It's not that weird guys. I'm bisexual, and you could check out guys and girls, n-not that I do that it's just-" Kanji begins talking and quickly regrets it as he turns bright red and starts stammering.

"More importantly, it looks like we can pause the videos, for now let's resume it, I want to see the significance here." Naoto says and everyone quiets down and lets the flashback begin again.

_ "Yu, my son, my beloved idiot. I too love women. Redheads are hot. There's a redhead in my class, I think I'm gonna go for it." Minako begins with a shit eating grin and is about to open her mouth again when Minato interjects. _

_ "Shut up dumbass. One, Mai-san is out of your league, two she's straight, three we're already outcasts, don't make it worse. Minato, somehow even blunter than Yu states and everyone's mood dampers in the flashback. _

_ "Ahhh, Minato-senpai let us act like life is nice for a bit.~" Ren says with a tone that no seven year old should carry in their voice. He sounds like a tired office worker like Adachi, worked to death. _

_ "Wanna go to the bar place again, I need money to make us lunch." Yu asks and the words 'bar place' set off immediate red flags. _

"I'm not the only one who's extremely concerned by that right?" Rise stammers out and everyone gives grunts or nods of agreement.

_ "How much do we have left from last time Ren asks, and Yu gets up and everyone else follows him to his bedroom. The room is fairly messy, with papers on the floor, his bed isn't made and the shelves aren't organized at all. Yu picks up a box with schoolwork and removes the papers to pull out around fifty thousand yen. _

_ "That's it?" Minako whines and everyone looks exhausted now. _

_ "Dammit..." Minato sighs out and Yu looks really guilty. _

_ "Sorry guys, grocery prices went up, and I can only find so many coupons." Yu says in a downcast tone and the scene cuts out with some static to around nighttime. It cuts to a red light district with neon lights that were brighter than Shiroku's lights at the night bar. You can hear 2000s J-pop and English pop music blasting on the speakers and it cuts to Minato, Minako, Yu, and Ren. _

_ "I hate the music here..." Yu says as he grinds his foot in the floor. He looks extremely uncomfortable and is physically pained to be there. He grips his elbow with one hand and plays with his hair while gnawing on his lip. Unlike the other memories, we don't even need to infer that. You can feel the discomfort. The migraine and irritation the music brings. The sting on lips with how hard he's biting. _

_ "Wanna borrow my headphones?" Minato asks while Ren and Minako chat on the side. _

_ "What about your misophonia?" Yu asks and gives him a look, his normal calm demeanor being stripped away as the seconds pass. _

_ "Yu I'm not stupid. You clearly have it as well. I'm having a good day, and I know you don't mind pop music, and enjoy it to an extent. Just give me back the headphones tomorrow and we'll be fine." Minato says and Yu softens a bit. He thanks Minato and puts the head phones on, and all the discomfort begins to wash off his face. You can feel how the soft piano swirls around in Yu's head, like a drink to cool off a raging fire. _

"Partner has misophonia too?! He should've told me dammit... could've loaned him my headphones or something..." Yosuke laments and Chie realises what he said.

"What's misophonia Yosuke, fear of miso or something?" Chie says and everyone gives her a look.

"It's like sensitivity to certain sounds, and those sounds make you irritated or angry, or any negative emotion really." Yosuke explains it to her and Naoto cuts in.

"Isn't it extremely rare though Yosuke-senpai?" Naoto asks the obvious.

"Officially, yeah it is, but it can be self diagnosed so the numbers are probably lower than the actual amount."

"Ah, understandable, let's continue watching."

_ "Thank you Senpai. Let's get to work." Yu gives Minato a wry smile and they begin to get behind the counter. Yu handles serving non alcoholic drinks and cleans the vip rooms after guests leave. He gets a few tips, a few leers, and a few offers to have a bit of fun. Seemingly used to this he says no and walks away in his work uniform of a black jacket, white shirt, and white pants. _

_ The scene of the bar shifts to Minako wearing a white dress with a black jacket, seemingly also serving water and small snacks, charming the customers for more tips. She drags her brother with her sometimes to tell a sob story. Ren mostly cleans in the back and gains sympathy from the bartenders and they give him tips that would be massive to a seven year old who wants candy, but almost nothing close to what they need to buy ingredients to make lunches with. The scene fades to black and cuts to a few hours later. _

_ "How much did we make Yu-senpai?!" Ren asks with a hopeful sheen in his eyes only a seven year old could have really. _

_ "We got enough for around a week. Rice is cheap and I wanted to get us some good vegetables so we look less pale and feel less tired." Yu laughs a bit and they count through the money as a group. _

_ "Less pale? Yu we literally have freckles. Ok maybe not Minato but still, his hair's dark, he's always going to be pale. Just say you wanna make curry again knucklehead!" Minako shouts and Yu flushes a bit. When you look closer it seems he really does have freckles and Minako messes up his hair. _

"My life is complete." Yosuke says out of nowhere and everyone looks at him in confusion.

"Yosuke, what?" Chie gives him a look and he realizes what he said and starts stammering over himself.

"N-nothing, let's continue watching!" Everyone just accepts that and they return to the flashback.

_ "Ugh it's almost midnight. We better get going guys." Minato says and everyone's mood for the millionth time hits rock bottom. _

_ "We'll walk Ren home, will you be ok Yu?" Minako asks and the. A few static images of Yu's hand being grabbed and him being turned around violently cut in and then it cuts back into the scene at hand. _

_ "I'll be fine, goodnight everyone!" Yu shouts and they all walk off in their own separate ways. The flashback ends at this. _

"Ok so. What the fuck? I'm pretty sure minors aren't allowed to work in the red light district?" Kanji shouted at no one in particular, but he had a point. How the hell did Yu get a job there, let alone Ren?

"That depends on what's served and the laws in that prefecture. We obviously don't know exactly where Senpai grew up, so I can't make any guesses." Naoto rationalizes and the air has a sense of purposely ignoring something. As if they're all thinking of the phrase 'ignorance is bliss' and choose not to say anything, that is until Teddie speaks up.

"What was up with the looks Sensei and Minako-chan were getting? They were really creepy!" Teddie begins moving his arms in a flapping motion and is scared. Everyone realizes you can't ignore an elephant that stares at you, and then someone looks it in the eye and everyone has to acknowledge it.

“That was what we call being a perverted prick or a pedophile. Being attracted to others is pretty normal if you’re allosexual, but some people are sick bastards who find kids like us hot. They’re awful people who need help. Being attracted to people under 18, especially people around 10 is very wrong because kids can’t consent, and kids aren’t sexy.” Yosuke begins trailing off while explaining pedophilia to Teddie and laws on consent. Everyone lets him explain that to Teddie while Teddie asks questions and listens intently. “Anything to help Sensei!” you can hear Teddie’s disgusted gasps as he realizes what those men were staring at. After a few minutes they finish up and Teddie storms over to the main group.

“Grrrr those people were so beary gross!” Teddie exclaims and everyone holds a face of agreement.

“Poor Senpai though. I know what it’s like to get those looks. To make yourself look better to people who are far older.” Rise says somberly and everyone looks downcast at that. 

“Naoto, what’s the deduction you got from that flashback.” Yosuke asks, giving Naoto a glance, a look no one else can quite figure out.

“Ah yes give me a moment please." Naoto says and begins to flip through her notebook. Everyone sits in an awkward silence while the barrier around the stairs begins to loosen up.

"Found my notes. From what I've gathered, Senpai and all of his friends are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Senpai and Minako-san are bisexual, Ren-kun is probably gay, and Minato-san is seemingly aromantic and asexual. Senpai makes everyone lunches and they all go to work together at bars in the red light district to make money. Senpai and Minako-san got a concerning amount of leers and attempts to sleep with older people. I note the flashback Senpai had while talking to Minako-san, but can't make any solid theories from that alone." Naoto finishes and everyone begins to walk up the stairs. Yosuke is more tense as they walk up and nobody notices because they all are. They all share the general thought of  _ “Why wouldn’t he tell us?” or “How many times have we failed him?”. _ The question persists for the entirety of the fourth floor. With a few jokes cracked here and there, in a sad attempt to to raise the ever decreasing mood around the group. With this they make it to the end of the hall once again.

“Ah, it seems we’ve reached another one ebearyone. Let’s hope it’s happier!” Teddie yells out awkwardly, and everyone lets out a sigh, clearly sick of watching their best friend having his heart broken.

_ Before anyone realizes it, the scene begins. Yu and his gang are on the roof eating lunch. It’s basically a timelapse of them growing up. In every frame you can see a glimpse of a bright blue butterfly passing by, a vibrant color not a single one of the Investigation Team has ever seen. You can see the 4 of them taking note of it throughout the years and the timelapse begins to slow down when Minato and Minako look around 17, Yu looking 14 going on 15, and Ren looking to be around 11. You can note there is a period around Yu turning 12, where he looks like a mess, never fully recovering his expression. _

_ “So we have some news~” Minako says and Ren and Yu look over. _

_ “Yeah, this can be taken 2 ways I guess.” MInato says with a forced nonchalant tone. _

_ “Sup Senpais.” Yu says with his mouth stuffed with rice. _

_ “We’re going to Iwatodai. Well back to Iwatodai. We’re old enough to not need a solid guardian anymore so they’re sending us to a student dorm for a prep school there.” Minako says and starts looking more downcast than in any of the other flashbacks. Yu’s face falls and Ren’s follows suit. _

_ “We’re from Iwatodai, it’s where our parents died on the bridge. We don’t know why they moved us 2 towns over but we haven’t been there since they passed away.” Minato says and somehow manages to carry such a despaired expression for someone who has such an apathetic look. _

“Pause it.” Naoto says out of nowhere and everyone looks at them.

“What’s wrong Naoto?” Kanji asks.

“The blue butterfly. I kept Senpai’s journal on me, the blue butterfly was mentioned. Keep an eye on it because it might have more significance than we think, also the bridge incident they mentioned. In 1996 the moonlight bridge in Iwatodai exploded after an incident with a nearby lab. Details were hidden from everyone but higher ups, there were multiple casualties at the lab it started at, and two on the bridge, with only two survivors.” Naoto finishes off and waits for a response.

“So the two survivors were Partner’s senpais?” Yosuke asks and Naoto confirms that.

“Back to the blue butterfly, that’s not a breed of butterfly. I’ve never seen one that blue in all my years on tour, never studied, or even noticed by any passerbys.” Rise asks with a good point. Why didn’t anyone else notice the blue butterfly? Blue butterflies were normal yes, but no normal butterfly was that bright blue, or glowed. 

“I think Senpai’s guess of it being persona related was right guys. No way no one just ignored something that bright.” Kanji says and everyone ponders over it for a few minutes before playing the scene again.

_ “At least you’re getting out! Ah, uh we’ll miss you a lot though. Do you have to go? This has been the one constant since I was like 7…” Ren trails off, clearly heartbroken by the news of his basically family leaving.  _

_ “We don’t have phones or anything. Ho-how will we stay in contact? You guys won’t forget us right? I’m glad you don't have to put up with the bullshit system anymore but still. I love you guys so much…” Yu begins tearing up and is clearly worried about being left without them. _

_ “Well about that, hehe. Minato can you tell them?” Minako chuckles a bit and asks her younger brother to give them their surprise. _

_ “Minako and I saved up enough to get us all phones.” Minato says and Minako gives a beaming bright smile. Ren looks overjoyed, still having a bit of childhood innocence when compared to the rest of the group, but Yu gives an awkward smile and gives a signal to meet up later. _

_ “Thanks Senpais!” Ren shouts with stars in his eyes. _

_ “Thanks, but can we talk Minako?” Minako picks up on why and lets out a sigh. _

_ “You’re too perceptive for your own good Yu.” Minako gives a smile again, but it’s far more strained.  _

_ “Ren, Minato-senpai, I’m going to go talk to Minako-senpai, we’ll be right back.” Yu says and Minako and him walk over to the doorway, where the rest of their group won’t hear them. _

_ “So where did you get the money for four phones? Phones aren’t cheap Minako.” Yu, as blunt as ever, gets straight to the point. _

_ “Ah, you caught me. I didn’t sleep with anyone, you told me you wish that on nobody, so why would I? We just took a bit of overtime. I didn’t sleep with anyone but um… I did a bit of compensated dating.” Minako winces and Yu freezes. Minako notices immediately and goes in to see if it’s safe to touch him. It isn’t so she backs up. _

_ “Yu I see you freezing up. I didn’t do anything like that. I wouldn’t do that after what you told me.” She says to him but Yu isn’t responding, he’s just blanking out and shivering a bit. _

_ “Yu. Can you come back to me? Wherever you are right now, you aren’t there, you’re on the roof with me, Minato, and Ren.” Minako says and Yu finally looks in her direction and he’s shaking and having clear trouble focusing. _

_ “I can feel their hands… It hurts...:” Yu rasps out and Minako makes an anguished expression. She makes no move to touch Yu, realizing that that isn’t the best idea right now. She bends down on her knees a bit to get on level with him. _

_ “Yu. You aren’t there, ok? I’m going to put my headphones on your ears, why don’t you sit down while I get Minato and Ren?” Yu nods, barely registering what she said. Her expression is a cross between anger and sadness. She puts her headphones on his ears and you can faintly hear the lyrics. A song about life or something but no one can quite focus on that while Yu sobs and shakes in a curled ball while the rest of the group makes their way there.  _

_ “Hey Yu-senpai…” Ren says in a somber tone. The way he says it makes it seem like this has happened before. _

_ “Hey kiddo… we’re here if you wanna let it out.” Minato says and they all sit by him, they don’t make a move to touch him, but their mere presence calms him down a bit. A few minutes pass and the sobs eventually stop. Yu looks up and his expression can only be described as… shattered. _

_ “Sorry guys. I’m glad you got the phones, but when Minako mentioned the dating thing, I got flashbacks to...them.” Yu winces and everyone looks ready to kill someone. _

_ “I’ll kill those bastards…” Minato grits out with a pissed expression. _

_ “Minato! They’re not worth it, also torture is a much better option!” Minako shouts at her twin, and their resemblance begins to show a bit and Ren pipes up. _

_ “Guys!” Ren hisses at them and he draws their attention. _

_ “Yu-senpai, let’s not think about them. It was disgusting for your parents to let that happen and if we could we would happily commit murder for you!” Ren says and Yu chuckles a bit and the scene fades off after he says one last thing. _

_ “And I’d do the same for all of you” Yu says with a smile that manages to shine through his broken gaze despite not being able to meet his eyes. _

“What the fuck? What the fuck?!  _ What the fuck?! _ ” Yosuke yells out, clearly in a spiral after watching his best friend, partner,  _ boyfriend,  _ basically admit to be sexually assaulted. The entire IT shares that sentiment in different ways. Rise was in a daze and completely shell shocked by what she just witnessed. She had heard how idols broke down after sexual assault and never thought she’d witness the effects it could have on someone, until it happened to someone close to her. Kanji was dumbfounded and muttering something about ‘staying a punk a bit longer wouldn’t hurt…’ while Chie was crying into Yukiko’s sweater, who had a mortified expression on her face. Teddie was asking Yosuke for an explanation on why Sensei was crying, and Yosuke was too far into a panicked daze to answer. Naoto stood to the side asking themself one question after snapping out of their personal daze.

_ “Why wouldn’t he tell them?” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha help i have a parent teacher conference tomorrow and im dead<3, can hs just end ahhhhhhhhhh, thanks for the support guys, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!!

**Author's Note:**

> Naosouyo supremacy, even if this is strictly souyo naosouyo is my ultimate ship hehe. I hope this turned out ok i has to type it up on mobile due to geyting grounded, but when i get my laptop back ill go thru and reformat and make it look better, the first 2-3 chapters will mostly be setup and then we'll get into more of the angst and shadow shit hehejckfk also yosuke gay panic send tweet, speaking of tweets heres my twitter:) @piepanda99


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